The Improbable Wendell Willkie: The Businessman Who Saved the Republican Party and His Country, and Conceived a New World Order - David Levering Lewis

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Auteur(s) : David Levering Lewis

Editeur : Liveright Publishing Corporation

Langue : Anglais

Parution : 01/09/2018

Format : Moyen, de 350g à 1kg

Nombre de pages : 400

Expédition : 726

Dimensions : 24.9 x 16.3 x 3.8

ISBN : 9780871404572

Résumé :

In the wake of one of the most tumultuous Republican conventions ever, the party of Lincoln nominated in 1940 a prominent?businessman and former Democrat?who?could have saved America's sclerotic?political system. Although Wendell Lewis?Willkie?would lose to FDR,?acclaimed biographer David Levering Lewis demonstrates?that the corporate chairman-turned-presidential candidate?must be regarded as?one of the most exciting, intellectually able, and authentically transformational figures to stride the twentieth-century American political landscape.

Born in Elwood, Indiana, in 1892, Willkie was certainly one of?the most?unexpected, if not unlikely, candidates for the presidency,?only somewhat less unlikely than Barack Hussein Obama. Although previously marginalized by journalists?like Theodore H. White and?David Halberstam as a political invention of?rich newspaper?publishers, the?Willkie who emerges here?is?a?man governed by principles who seldom allowed rigid?categories to stand in his way. Even as a young man, he?quickly distinguished himself as?a reform-minded lawyer, whose farm-boy haircut, hayseed manners, and sartorial indifference bespoke common-man straightforwardness but concealed?an?ambition that propelled him at?forty?to chairman of Commonwealth and Southern, the?country's?third-largest private utility holding company.

It was Willkie's vehement opposition to government regulation of the free-market economy and his success in wrenching a fabulous monetary settlement from the Tennessee Valley Authority that?attracted the attention of Republican leaders, who, like?Willkie, felt that FDR?was turning the office into an imperial presidency. Successful at outwitting the isolationist?wing of his own party, Willkie took on?Roosevelt during one of the nation's darkest periods, creating an unlikely?alliance of supporters, including anti-big-government?business leaders and black voters, who rightly felt?excluded from New Deal benefits.

Despite receiving the largest percentage of Republican votes in a generation, Willkie lost but, in the process, proposed?sweeping civil rights reform a full generation before the civil rights era?and?a?progressive new?conception of the world that?remains?inspirational at a time when?our own national belief system?has become alarmingly?immoral and?rudderless. Rather than continue a political battle that could have weakened the nation during its darkest hour,?a?defeated?Willkie?reconciled with the?president and embraced the war effort, while writing?One World,?a visionary credo that?hoped to instigate an international movement for the betterment of the world's people. In rejecting?America's penchant for?exceptionalism, Willkie championed this?internationalism more?passionately?than any American politician before him, creating?a sovereign philosophy?of?liberalism that balanced free enterprise with social responsibility. His?untimely death at fifty-two in?1944?left this prophetic vision tragically stillborn.

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Biographie:
David Levering Lewis, the author of God's Crucible, is professor emeritus of history at New York University. A recipient of the National Humanities Medal, Lewis received the Pulitzer Prize for each volume of his W.E.B. Du Bois biography. He lives in New York City....

Sommaire:

In the wake of one of the most tumultuous Republican conventions ever, the party of Lincoln nominated in 1940 a prominent?businessman and former Democrat?who?could have saved America's sclerotic?political system. Although Wendell Lewis?Willkie?would lose to FDR,?acclaimed biographer David Levering Lewis demonstrates?that the corporate chairman-turned-presidential candidate?must be regarded as?one of the most exciting, intellectually able, and authentically transformational figures to stride the twentieth-century American political landscape.

Born in Elwood, Indiana, in 1892, Willkie was certainly one of?the most?unexpected, if not unlikely, candidates for the presidency,?only somewhat less unlikely than Barack Hussein Obama. Although previously marginalized by journalists?like Theodore H. White and?David Halberstam as a political invention of?rich newspaper?publishers, the?Willkie who emerges here?is?a?man governed by principles who seldom allowed rigid?categories to stand in his way. Even as a young man, he?quickly distinguished himself as?a reform-minded lawyer, whose farm-boy haircut, hayseed manners, and sartorial indifference bespoke common-man straightforwardness but concealed?an?ambition that propelled him at?forty?to chairman of Commonwealth and Southern, the?country's?third-largest private utility holding company.

It was Willkie's vehement opposition to government regulation of the free-market economy and his success in wrenching a fabulous monetary settlement from the Tennessee Valley Authority that?attracted the attention of Republican leaders, who, like?Willkie, felt that FDR?was turning the office into an imperial presidency. Successful at outwitting the isolationist?wing of his own party, Willkie took on?Roosevelt during one of the nation's darkest periods, creating an unlikely?alliance of supporters, including anti-big-government?business leaders and black voters, who rightly felt?excluded from New Deal benefits.

Despite receiving the largest percentage of Republican votes in a generation, Willkie lost but, in the process, proposed?sweeping civil rights reform a full generation before the civil rights era?and?a?progressive new?conception of the world that?remains?inspirational at a time when?our own national belief system?has become alarmingly?immoral and?rudderless. Rather than continue a political battle that could have weakened the nation during its darkest hour,?a?defeated?Willkie?reconciled with the?president and embraced the war effort, while writing?One World,?a visionary credo that?hoped to instigate an international movement for the betterment of the world's people. In rejecting?America's penchant for?exceptionalism, Willkie championed this?internationalism more?passionately?than any American politician before him, creating?a sovereign philosophy?of?liberalism that balanced free enterprise with social responsibility. His?untimely death at fifty-two in?1944?left this prophetic vision tragically stillborn.